At The Heart of All Things
by Nilmiel
Summary: -A collection of oneshots done for the kh request community on lj. Various pairings and genres.-
1. Reminder

_Characters: Kairi/Leon.  
Genre: Romance, a hint of angst.  
Prompt: She reminded him of everything he stood for._

--

Leon had only heard Sora talk of her up until that point. The sparkle in the boy's eye was obvious when he mentioned her, but then he quickly became downcast when he remembered her fate. Leon thought little of it. When Sora mentioned her, he would smile and encourage him to save his friend. He didn't dwell on it. He didn't think of her any differently until he saw her face to face.

She just showed up alongside Sora in their house in the third district. The boy was bright and beaming with pride and _yes, I rescued her_. The first thing Leon noticed was that she was small. Tiny and petite. The second thing he noticed is that she was smiling. _Smiling. _ After she'd had her heart torn away from her, witnessed the boy who came to rescue her sacrifice himself from her, seen her best friend become a monster.

Leon retreated to his underground cavern soon afterwards. Pulling out his immense sword, he took a deep breath, and began to practice formations. He closed his eyes and swung his blade left, then right, then left again, creating sparks as it scraped against the wall.

She reminded him of everything he stood for.

_Slash._

Endurance.

_Slash._

Compassion.

_Slash._

Strength.

_Slash._

He slammed his blade into the stone wall again and again, watching the sparks fly and smelling their metallic tang. All the things he should have stood for. All the things he had failed at. He hadn't protected his homes, his friends, or his family. He hadn't—

"Are you training hard?"

He stopped his blade in midswing, turning to face the small girl who had found her way down here. He just looked at her, surprised to see her in this cave when she should have been with Sora.

"Sora's running errands around town. So I decided to explore." Kairi explained, seemingly reading his thoughts. "I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"You don't have to go." He said, shrugging and turning back to the wall to swing his blade again. He could feel the radiance of her smile.

"You know what?" She began again. "This cave kind of reminds me of our Secret Place. It feels the same. It's cozy here." She turned to him. "And you remind me of Sora and Riku."

He laughed at her. "I do? Really? I don't know, I'm a lot better looking than either of those punks. Even though I haven't actually met Riku yet."

She laughed back. "I don't know…" She said, a happy trill in her voice. She walked around him to inspect him from every angle, stopping in front of him and standing on tiptoe to look at his face. "Nope, you're just like them." She grinned broadly. Leon smiled back at her. Kairi tilted her head to one side, and cautiously raised a finger to trace the scar on his face. He closed his eyes under her cool touch. "Where did you get this scar?" She asked in a small voice.

Leon shook his head. "It's a long story. Too long of one to tell you before Sora gets back."

She didn't move away from him. "You seem familiar." She said softly. "I can't put my finger on it, but it seems like I know you from somewhere."

He didn't say anything. He couldn't come up with the words to respond. He couldn't tell her that he wasn't who he used to be, that he had failed his world. He began to pull away, looking at the ground, but Kairi stopped him as she embraced him in a tight hug.

"Thank you, Leon. For helping us. I know he couldn't have done it without you."

Leon nearly jumped away, completely startled by her actions, but then he gently wrapped his arms around her small frame.

"You're welcome, Princess."

Leon pulled away then, placing his hands on her shoulders. She beamed up at him. "Now, why don't you wait here? Sora should be along shortly, if he's after what I think he is." Leon said.

Kairi nodded. "Sure!"

He chuckled softly to himself and made his way through the tunnel to the alleyway. "I'll see you around, Kairi." He waved over his shoulder.

If she was still smiling, he could be all that he stood for again, he decided.


	2. Showoff

_Characters: Sora, Vaan, Balthier  
Genre: General, Action/Adventure  
Prompt: Showoff._

--

"Woah!" Sora beamed as he entered the enormous hangar and stared at the beauty of a ship in front of him. "This is yours?" He exclaimed, turning to his two new acquaintances. The younger of the two pointed to the other. "It's his. But it was mine for a while. I got to fly it." He smiled brightly.

The older man grinned. "She's mine, all right. My leading lady. This is the _Strahl_."

Sora's mouth dropped open once again. This was so cool! He had designed and flown his own gummi ships on numerous occasions, but they had never been this huge. Or sleek. "How fast is she?" He bubbled. "She can fly in gummi space, right? How are her weapons?" His face was ablaze in admiration.

"You sound exactly like Vaan did when he first saw her." The sky pirate informed him. Vaan looked indignant, but the pirate ignored him. "To all of your questions, though, I think I can give you the answer you are looking for."

"So, you can take me to Radiant Garden, right? I need to meet up with Donald and Goofy there." Sora said, bouncing up and down excitedly. Vaan scratched the back of his head. "I think so. But Balthier's kind of stingy. You'll need to pay him a lot. He still charges me a fortune when I just need a ride to Bhujerba." Vaan glared.

Balthier shrugged. "What can I say? Both of my ladies are high maintenance." He smirked. "Twenty thousand munny, boy. And not a penny less."

Sora groaned. He had just paid a fortune stocking up on potions and ethers after being accidentally marooned on this world called "Ivalice". "Um, I'm kinda broke right now, Balthier." He apologized. "Could I do something for you instead? I don't mean to brag, but if you guys are having Heartless problems anywhere, I'm your man." He tapped himself on the chest with his thump, and summoned the Keyblade to his other hand.

"Woah," Vaan exclaimed at the site of the giant key flashing into the boy's hand. "How did you do that?" He asked, incredulous.

Sora looked pensive for a moment. "I… don't really know. I just kind of call it and it comes." To be honest, he had hardly thought at all about how he called the Keyblade to his hand. It was just kind of a reflex. He was glad it had earned him some admiration from the older boy. "So, do you folks here in Ivalice have any Heartless problems I can deal with?"

Balthier and Vaan exchanged a confused look. "Heartless?" Vaan asked, perplexed.

Sora scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, you know, Heartless! Little black things with antennas?" He said, sticking his fingers up on either side of his head. "Steal people's hearts? Source of all evil?"

Balthier shook his head. "Sorry, boy. But, if you're looking for money and a fight, there's a particularly nasty mark with quite a large bounty on its head. Deal with that, give me the profits, and I'll take you to your Radiant Garden."

--

This was not what Sora was expecting. Not what he was expecting at all. When Balthier said 'mark", Sora had assumed that he would have to run into the wild, dispatch of a few Heartless or similar beings, and go back to claim his reward. This was not a few Heartless. This was an enormous dragon --twice the size Mafeicent had been-- that breathed ice, tried to smoosh him, and liked poisoning him as well. Not to mention its health seemed immaculate. They'd been fighting the wyrm for at least an hour, and Sora was getting rather fed up.

"It's like I'm fighting Sephiroth in dragon form," He grumbled to himself as he dodged out of the way. He heard Vaan yelp somewhere to his right as he was smacked by a giant claw, and heard Balthier sigh and pull another healing spell out of thin air. Sora took a deep breath and gathered strength. The trio had been attacking this thing for what seemed like an eternity, it's health had to be relatively low. Slowly letting out his breath, Sora released the Trinity Limit and launched himself at the enormous monster. He moved in a blur, slashing and parrying the monster's giant horns and finally, with his last stroke, embedding the Keyblade into the beast's massive chest.

The wyrm let out a piercing roar, swatting at Sora and his two companions, but fell to the ground and lay there groaning in its final moments before it dissipated into thin air.

Vaan looked at Sora in awe. "Showoff." He said.

Sora just grinned and turned to Balthier. "To Radiant Garden then?"

The sky pirate nodded. "To Radiant Garden."


	3. Coffee

_Characters: Original Six as apprentices_

_Genre: General/Humor_

_Prompt: Spittake_

--

Ienzo made his way across the kitchen, papers with complex calculations scribbled on them clutched in one hand, a stack of books with a mug of coffee set precariously on top balance on the other, and a piece of dry toast clenched between his teeth. The other five apprentices were seated around the breakfast table, each wrapped up in their own experiments and food. Xehanort was looking over a complex diagram of the heart while pausing every once in a while to take a bite of the muffin that he had was holding in one hand. Braig was avidly describing his latest theory on the defiance of gravity to an unusually intrigued Dilan, his toast lay forgotten on the plate. Even was pouring over a list of new synthesis materials that had been recently recovered, absentmindedly stirring his own cup of coffee at the same time, and Elaeus was sitting silently reading over a report he was planning on handing into Master Ansem later that day.

Ienzo took his regular seat, across from Even and next to Elaeus, who moved his own clutter of supplies slightly to the left to make room for Ienzo's own. Arranging his books and calculations on the table, he removed the piece of toast from his mouth. "We need a bigger table." He muttered to no one in particular. Taking a bite of his toast, he pulled out a pen from his coat pocket and began to scribble something out on his paper, every once in a while turning to a page in a book for reference.

"Hmm," Even said in distracted agreement. He reached for his coffee and took a sip. Unfortunately, as he did this, he noticed a peculiar similarity between all of the synthesis materials on the list. The fourth apprentice's eyes widened, and he spit out his coffee in surprise- effectively spraying Ienzo and his work. "Of course!" He exclaimed, not noticing the youngest apprentice was now dripping with luke-warm coffee and that his work was smudged. "These ingredients… all of them can be traced back to a single spec—Are you ok, Ienzo?" Even cut himself off, noticing the now fuming boy.

Ienzo said nothing, just stood up, selected the largest book from his pile, and brought it down as hard as he could on Even's head.

The fourth apprentice let out a string of vile curses that caused all the rest of the apprentices to turn and regard the two of them in surprise. Ienzo, however, deemed this revenge inadequate, and proceeded to dump his own cup of coffee onto Even's head, who let out another yelp of surprise.

"For Kingdom's sake, Ienzo!" He exclaimed, standing up and glaring down at the boy.

Ienzo ignored him and took his seat again next to Aeleus. "I'd appreciate if you would not spray me with your coffee and saliva, Even." He said, wiping his face off with a napkin.

Even opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it and walked over to the sink to dry himself off. It was a long while before he drank coffee around Ienzo again.


	4. Thief

_Characters: Yuffie/Axel_

--

It was turning out to be just like every single other dinner she'd ever had with them. Aerith had prepared some unusual new dish and a creative drink to go with it, and Leon was telling her how the hot tea wasn't supposed to be cruchy and she shouldn't have put cashews in it. Cid was arguing across the table with Merlin, and Cloud was being his own special ball of unsocial in the other corner. So, in short, Yuffie was bored.

She had already finished off most of the food on her plate. She didn't know what Leon was talking about most of the time. Aerith's food was usually pretty good, and made better each night by the fact that they never had the exact same thing twice. But for tonight she was finished, and she didn't feel like sitting there and listening to Merlin and Cid go at it like an old married couple. So Yuffie stood, stretched, and walked to the doors.

"I'm going out for a while. See you all later!" She called.

Aerith looked up from her plate. "Where are you going so late?" She asked, ever the maternal type.

"I dunno." Yuffie answered, shrugging her shoulders. "Just out. Don't worry about me. I promise I'll be back before midnight." She flashed Aerith a grin, hoping that she would buy it despite Yuffie's reputation as not the most trustworthy person in Radiant Garden. With those words, she was out the door, flying up to the roof tops and dancing across them.

As she ran, she caught sight the telltale lights of a gummi ship descending in the atmosphere. She smiled widely and ran after it. Sora was always good for a laugh.

When he got off the gummi ship, arguing with Donald about hthe efficiency of his landing methods, she was waiting for hi, perched on top of a nearby wall. "Sora!" She called, waving at him.

"Hey, Yuffie!" He called waving back. "Is Leon busy?"

Yuffie frowned. So it was business as usual. The boy rarely stopped by to say hi. She guessed she couldn't blame him, what with him being the keeper of peace in the multi-verse and all. "I don't think so." She said. "They were just eating dinner when I left."

"Thanks!" The Keyblade Master called back at her, taking off with a wave with Donald and Goofy in tow.

Yuffie sighed. She was now very much alone with nothing to do. She began wandering alone the curve of the wall, which wasn't doing much to test her balance. It curved up and down with the hills in the Garden, but it never really got so thin she needed to think about where she was stepping. Maybe she could go knock around some Heartless for kicks? She shook her head. Leon would have her hide if he found out she had just taken them on by herself. She kicked distainfully at the stone wall. "This sucks." She mumbled.

"I thought girls weren't supposed to wander at night. Especially alone with all the Heartless running around."

Yuffie jumped and whirled around to look for whoever had spoken to her. For an instant, she was horrified with herself for not being able hear whoever it was approach, but then her eyes settled on the black cloak and hood, and she realized who had come. "You guys again?" She asked. Sora had told them all about the Organization, including their ability to appear at random through the corridors of darkness. "Are you all stalkers or something?" She asked, folding her arms.

The man in black chuckled, pulling down his hood to reveal a mane of red hair and green eyes that glowed in the darkness. Yuffie didn't flinch, she'd seen worse. "Hey, now," He said in mock hurt. "You wound me deep. I was just hoping we could be friends."

"Cut the crap." Yuffie said. "I know all about you guys. No hearts or whatever". She pulled one of her shuriken from the pouch at her hip. "What're you doing here?" She asked, raising it behind her ear, preparing to throw it at him if he even tried to move. She groaned to herself mentally. When she had wished for something to do, it didn't really involve heartless psychos.

The man chuckled at her. "I forgot. You're one of the ones working with the Keyblade Master, aren't you? You guys must not like me very much." He shrugged. "I guess I'll have to do this the hard way."

Yuffie blinked. "What're you talk—" The words had hardly left her mouth when suddenly the man was behind her, one his hands grabbing the one that held the shuriken and twisting it painfully behind her back, the other covering her mouth. She let out a muffled and disgruntled yelp. Yeah, this wasn't really what she had wanted to deal with.

"Do tell me." The man whispered down into her. She could feel his lips brush against her ear and she jerked her head away from him. "How close are you to Sora?" He asked.

A second later, she had twisted out of his grasp and was pressing a small dagger to his neck. "Sora's a friend," She replied. "And if you wanted him, you shoulda gone for him first. Then at least I wouldn't have to deal with you."

"Wow, feisty, aren't we?" He asked, not the least bit threatened. "I guess Sora likes the ones like you." He took a step closer, the dagger pressing dangerously against his skin. Yuffie didn't give him any satisfaction of stepping back. She was the Great Ninja Yuffie, not easily scared by creepy stalkers in black coats with no hearts.

He moved faster than she expected, though, and once again the tables were turned as he pressed her hard against the wall behind them. She didn't drop the dagger, though, and pressed it hard against his neck, slicing a thin line of bright red that matched his hair. He didn't flinch, just leered down at her with eyes she didn't like. She glared back at him. "Back off." She warned him. She didn't like guys who were such jerks.

"You're not scared?" He asked.

"Of course not." She told him matter-of-factly. "I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie. I'm not scared of stalker creeps like you."

He laughed. "Oh, wow, did I pick a winner this time!" He chuckled to himself. He stepped away from her, raising his hands in a mock surrender. Yuffie glared after him, not putting the dagger back into her pocket. "I'll see you around, Great Ninja Yuffie." He said. 'I'd take you with me, but it seems you'd be more trouble than you're worth." As he spoke, the darkness twirled around him and he began to fade from sight. "Later!" Yuffe's eyes widened as he twirled a shuriken around his finger.

She launched herself at the portal, but he was gone. She stumbled to a halt, cursing violently. This was definitely not a good night. She had had her hands full enough as it was, and now she would have to run back and talk to Sora about how to best track down a shuriken-thieving, red-haired and heartless freak.


End file.
